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Happy Earth Day!

Today is the 38th annual celebration of the planet we call home, and a day to step back and think about things we can do to preserve and restore our natural resources…

So that’s the official line on Earth Day, but I want to know: what do YOU think about Earth Day?

Is it a time to reflect on accomplishments?

A time to call for more action?

Or something in-between?

Send a post, let us know, then go outside and do something good for the planet.

Home > Blogs > Living Green > Archives > 2008 > June > 15 > Entry

Racing day

By Matt Cunningham | Sunday, June 15, 2008, 08:00 AM

If you still haven’t tried bike commuting, if you’re still finding reasons why it’s not practical, if you’re still saying to yourself “that’s a good idea, if I was lighter/younger/more fit/blah blah blah,” then read on.

Participants in the 2008 Race Across America (RAAM) are scheduled to roll through a checkpoint in Butler County over the next couple of days. These men and women have been riding - some for up to 22 hours a day - in what is billed as the “world’s toughest bicycle race.”

If you want to see examples of how far the human body can take itself with enough motivation, head over and take a look.

On a more local note, I’ll be throwing myself into the meat grinder at the Race for the Graves Mountain Bike Festival at England-Idlewild Park in Burlington, Ken. OK, I’ll be racing in the beginner class, and I have no aspirations of course records or world domination. But regardless of my finishing time, it will be a winning day.

I’ve been getting in shape for mountain bike season since January, when I was 5-10 pounds heavier and unable to jog more than a mile or two without stopping to walk. I can go a little further now: the race is a little over 14 miles of off road riding at race pace. I’ll be dog tired at the end, and nowhere near the fastest person in the park That’s the greatest beauty of the human body: it only has one ultimate time limit. It may be tough to get off the couch or out of the SUV seat and onto the bike saddle, but you aren’t too old to get in better shape until you’re dead.

Get out there. Ride the bike. Trust me, I speak from experience: you can go faster and further than you could ever imagine.

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